Who Are the Fathers of Today?

All children have two parents, a mother and a father. Yet, only during the past two decades have social scientists and policymakers begun to direct substantial attention toward understanding men’s experience with children and the role that fathers play in child development through the resources, care, and nurturing they give to their children (see Cabrera, Tamis-LeMonda, Bradley, Hofferth, & Lamb, 2000; Eggebeen, in press). The early focus first on the changing circumstances and activities of mothers, and more recently on the lives of children, can be understood as a response to the dramatic increases during the past half-century in mothers’ labor force participation, divorce, out-of-wedlock childbearing, and motheronly family living arrangements (see Hernandez, 1986; 1993). But increasing evidence indicates that fathers’ circumstances and behaviors are consequential for the well-being and development of children and for their transition to adulthood (for overviews, see Cabrera et al., 2000; Hernandez, 1993).